Virgin Atlantic has held talks with financial partners over a possible bid to buy Gatwick Airport.

A spokesman for the airline said that the talks were at a very early stage but that it intended to approach other airlines about forming a consortium to table a bid, once it had secured suitable backing.

Sir Richard Branson’s airline already owns a seventh stake in a consortium that owns NATS, the UK’s system of air traffic control and the entrepreneur believes consortium-ownership could be suitable for an airport, now that the Competition Commission has signalled its intention to force BAA to sell up to three of its seven airports.